Crimson Nectar
by RandomMasterTori
Summary: AU where Nagisa and Rei are detectives solving a serial killer case.
1. Prolouge

**Title:** Crimson Nectar

**Fandom:** Free!

**Pairing:** This is pretty general, but I'll be adding Reigisa hints.

**A/N**: AU where Nagisa and Rei are detectives solving a serial killer case. Nagisa and Rei are in their later 20s here, but everyone else is their age in the anime.

* * *

Name: Amakata Miho  
Sex: Female  
Age: Approximately early thirties  
Occupation: High School teacher  
Cause of death: Bled out due to a fatal stab wound to the heart

Rookie detective Nagisa Hazuki tisked as he scribbled down basic notes for the investigation. "Poor lady," he thought, "she was still young. What a shame." He took another glance at the crime scene, but shuttered at the sight of the crimson mess all over the floor. Normally, Nagisa could stomach gore in movies, but this scene was very real, and he definitely did not expect his first crime scene to be so...bloody.

On the teachers room's floor lie the lifeless body of the victim. Strangely enough, everything about this murder was clean, minus the massive amounts of blood splattered on the off-white floor. None of the papers on the desks fell onto the floor, which meant no signs of a struggle. Even Ms. Miho's body and face seemed peaceful; her arms were gently folded together, almost as if she was sleeping.

It was really strange for a murder, anyone could see that.

Luckily, his dependable partner, Detective Rei Ryugazaki, was more experienced in this field and could stomach scenes like this. Even though Rei was a few months younger than him, he had started in this field of work earlier than Nagisa, and in turn had more time in the field.

"Hazuki-san, have you written down all the basic information we have so far?" His partner asked, barely turning around to look at the shorter man.

"Yessir! And please, just call me Nagisa, ok?" The blonde replied with an honest smile. He continued, "Did you want me to write down anything else? Or maybe you want me to, uh, look at something?" His lips slightly quivered at the last statement; he definitely was not prepared to look at this picture more than he'd have to.

The blue haired man slid his glasses back up with his hand and turned his head to side-glance Nagisa with his dark violet eyes. He replied coldly, "I shall remain professional, Hazuki-san, and I beg you do the same. Anyway, I would like for you to record that no weapon was found at the scene of the crime."

"Rod-ger~!" Nagisa sung. He knew it wasn't really the time to sound happy, but he wouldn't let himself succumb to this dreary atmosphere.

After he wrote down what Rei told him to, the two stood in the heavy air together, neither breaking the ice. Nagisa took it upon himself to finally say something to alleviate the mood, or at least get them both out of there. "Soooo, do we just leave this to the other cops or...?"

Rei lifted himself off the floor and turned to Nagisa. He seemed to slightly scowl at him, perhaps hoping to frighten him a little, but to no avail. The blonde wasn't the type of guy to take looks like that seriously. "I suppose we can gather more information on the possible murderer. He's in police custody currently." He leads Nagisa out of the room, double-taking the area before he shuts the door.

And with the door shut, the mood shifted too. "Oooh sounds good to me, Detective Rei-chan!"

Rei's face gave out in an embarrassed blush. "D-detective Rei-chan?!" He sputtered, seeming to lose that cool exterior for a brief moment, only to regain it seconds after to reply, "Ahem, well let's be off then. He's currently in police custody at the station. We'll be done with our inquiries before dinner."


	2. Chapter 1

Rei and Nagisa glared at the suspect from the other side of the wooden inquiry table. A singular, rather dim light loomed over it, flickering once or twice. Sitting down at the opposite end of the detectives was a very broad, very tall boy of only 17 years. And he was defiantly not happy to be there.

Nagisa slammed his hands on the table dramatically, causing the boy to jump out of his seat. "Name and occupation!" He exclaims, sounding a bit too excited. Rei scowled at Nagisa's unprofessional aditude.

"His name is Makoto Tachibana, Hazuki-san, and please, be serious! He's a student of the victim." Rei looked to Makoto to reaffirm the facts. Makoto nodded weakly.

"I see, I see!" Nagisa beamed. Rei frowned further. How could he smile in a situation like this? They were interrogating a suspect of murder!

"Nagisa!" Rei spat. "This is NOT a game. Treat this seriously or I'll do this by myself!"

The threat made Nagisa slump down into a chair. Rei seemed pleased as he took over the questioning from there. "Anyway, Tachibana-kun, can you please tell us why you did this crime?"

The boy's eyes flashed conflicting emotions of confusion, fear, and anger. "I did not kill my teacher," he said, voice trembling. "I don't even know why the police arrested me in the first place…"

"There was a witness who saw you do it, apparently. She said that your clothes were bloodied as you held her deceased body," Rei informed, pushing up his glasses.

Makoto ran a hand through his light brown hair, mumbling, "How can that be…?"

"Can you explain why you were at the school that night?" Inquired Nagisa, folding his arms and calmly listening to his story.

Makoto fiddled with his thumbs, refusing to meet either detective in the eye. "Well," he started, " I was…getting extra help from her after school. She is my teacher, after all."

"But why so late at night?" Rei's eyes narrowed, burning a hole through Makoto.

"I…" Makoto hesitated.

Rei smirked, "See? This hesitation logically means one thing. You were the one to kill Miss Amakata. You did it late after school so that no one would know, eluding the possibility that other people may have stayed just as late as you had."

"B-but I didn't-!"

"Detective Ryugazaki, let's not jump to conclusions so quickly. He needs a motive, and we don't have that yet." Nagisa's eyes fixated themselves on Makoto, as if he was trying to see through him. The student fumbled with his school uniform tie. "We need more evidence. Tachibana-kun, we'll get back to you once we get more information. You are dismissed for now."

He nodded shakily as Nagisa stood up from his chair to leave. Rei looked to Nagisa as if to object, but he then nodded, understanding the fact that they did need to have a solid case.

The two detectives decided to break for lunch at a nearby café. Or rather, Nagisa insisted they did so because he wouldn't stop whining for food. As he stuffed his face with strawberry shortcake, he spoke to Rei, who was calmly sipping some coffee while staring at the pig in front of him with disgust.

"I don't think he did it, Rei-chan," is what Rei heard.

Rei nearly spat out his coffee at the remark. "W-what do you mean? There's no evidence to be found, and all we can rely on is the witness and-"

Nagisa sprung forward, getting a bit too close to Rei's personal space. His auburn eyes glowed with passion as he exclaimed, "That doesn't matter! What if the witness is mistaken? We still need more information, Rei-chan. We're supposed to find the truth, right? Isn't that what detectives do?"

"Well, yes, that's correct but… Hazuki-san, it's not that simple!" Rei informed, letting the blonde's impolite speech towards him slide for now; and soon, his own composure too. "I've read up on thousands of theories about investigation and interrogation and adding up facts and testimonies, and I will most certainly NOT let you say that none of that matters to this case! What," he ranted, almost forgetting to take a breath, "could you possibly base this bizarre judgement on?"

"His eyes."

There was a long silence. Then a stifled chuckle that soon turned into a roaring laugh. "His…eyes?! You have GOT to be kidding me! That tells us nothing about this case, Hazuki-san," Nagisa's face heated up in embarrassment as Rei laughed at his judgement. "I mean, there's no logic in that at all!"

Nagisa's face puffed up in a pout, "Maybe not, but sometimes it's good to go by your gut feelings on things! Logic won't help you everywhere!"

Rei continued, "Hazuki-san, this job, investigating and finding the culprit, is ALL ABOUT LOGIC," his laughter began to die down as he spoke in a more serious tone. "I suggest you re-think your approach in this field if you want to continue in it. You won't get very far here with that mindset of… Gut feelings."

And with that, Rei got up, pushed in his chair, and headed for the door.

"Now if you'll excuse me, there is still a witness I must contact in order to logically solve this situation. Whether I see you back at the office later is your decision."

Rei strode out of the door, his unbuttoned purple trench coat flowing along with his movements. Nagisa watched Rei walk away and heaved a heavy sigh. The blonde slumped down in his chair, suddenly not feeling hungry anymore.

"But he didn't do it…" He told himself, "He didn't…"

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A/N: Oh gosh, sorry this took so long to upload! Couldn't do it from my tablet. So yes, THE PLOT THICKENS! (dun dun dun...) Things are starting off pretty slow, sadly, but I plan to make it more interesting as soon as I get this exposition stuff out of the way! Expect a fun twist soon...


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